A typical workpiece-shaping assembly has a drive shaft centered on and rotatable about an axis and a tool, in particular, a roll, that is attached to this shaft. a keyed coupling, in particular a spline coupling, is provided between the drive shaft and the tool for transmitting torque from the drive shaft to the tool.
Assemblies of this type involve releasably securing a tool, specifically, a roll, to the drive shaft. When in use, high torque must be transmitted by the drive shaft to the roll. A known approach here is to employ a spline coupling between drive shaft and roll. Involute spline couplings of this type are fairly well known and in common use. Reference is made here to DIN 5480 and DIN 5466 that provide information on the constructive design of these structures.
The use of a spline coupling between the drive shaft and the roll advantageously achieves the result that, on the one hand, a transmission of torque is possible but, on the other hand, the spline coupling can also transmit radial forces due to its design, and this aspect is highly essential here for rolling a workpiece.
In the case of a standard forming tool, the coupling between the drive shaft and the roll is thus currently created by a spline-type coupling. The rolling forces and torques are transmitted in a small space. Great importance is furthermore attached to rapid and simple roll replacement in order to reliably ensure a high level of economic efficiency in the working process. The use of spline couplings has proven to be very successful in this regard.
A disadvantageous aspect here is however the fact that use of this coupling between a roll and a drive shaft involves a high level of wear on the coupling formations, with the result that the parts must be replaced after a certain service time so as to be able to reliably effect the transmission of radial forces and torques. This is because both radial forces as well as torques must be transmitted in a confined space and this causes corresponding problems in terms of susceptibility to wear.